Events

What is it like to be a Black woman working in the construction trades in America? And if I’m not that woman, why should I care? How does her life impact mine?

The answer to that question will become apparent when you join the August Wilson Red Door Project and Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc, as they present My Walk Has Never Been Average followed by a community forum:

June 7, 2014 1:00 p.m. Self Enhancement, Inc. 3920 N. Kerby Ave, First Unitarian Church is also pleased to be a sponsor of this event.

My Walk Has Never Been Average is a multimedia presentation based on the lives of women whose stories are rarely told. Adapted for the stage from in-depth, first-person interviews with Black women in all aspects of construction, these stories reveal great inner strength and accomplishment in the face of the multiple oppressions facing Black working class women in America. These are stories of families and communities, of fighting for survival and achieving success, and of relationship dynamics when women move out of nontraditional roles.

The interviews were conducted by Roberta S. Hunte, who teaches Black Studies, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Conflict Resolution at Portland State University. Professor Hunte’s dissertation is the original source material for Walk. When asked what she hopes to achieve through this theatrical presentation, Dr. Hunte said,

“We rarely talk about working class women and work. Pundits talk about work in the media, but rarely do we hear grassroots folks talking about what it means to have a job, to find meaning in work, and what is required of some of us to walk our path."

“Walk” played to sold out crowds during the Fertile Ground Festival in February and last week at Portland State University as part of Sexual Awareness Month. The June 7 performance is followed by a community forum which is made possible in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities (OH), a statewide nonprofit organization and an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds OH’s grant program. The forum will feature a live facebook stream of participant responses to three questions: a) How workplaces can become more inclusive; b) how Portland can become a more inclusive city; and c) how art can be a powerful instrument of social change.